Sunday, 30 September 2012

Hello there, my lovely blog friends, I hope everybody is having a good weekend. I'm back today with another LO, yes, I've been bitten by the bug again !!!!
When I was scrapbooking regularly, I loved joining in with sketch challenges, unfortunately a lot of the sketch challenge blogs I took part in, no longer exsist but as I was blog hopping the other day I found a great monthly sketch on the C'est Magnifque Kits blog.

Here's September's sketch, isn't it gorgeous, love all the layers and embellishments.

and here's my LO.

I painted part of the background paper with gesso and added some Pan Pastel around the edge.I got to use lots of my Prima flowers again, you won't believe how many packs I've collected over the years, I've used the dress form, from my Whoo Hoo Wednesday tutorial, showing how to use old dressmaking patterns, I also added some glittered angel wings to it

The photo's are of Olivia, when we gave her the new tutu, that Paige had made for her, you can see how she made this no-sew tutu, here. She danced around the room like a little ballerina and posed for lots of photo's, I do love this sweet girl !!!!

Friday, 28 September 2012

Hello, my lovely friends, I hope you've all had a good week and looking forward to the weekend. I'm back today with a LO, and it's been a long time coming !!!
I haven't been into scrapbooking for such a long time now and had completely lost my mojo. I still went to Bromsgrove Crop but either made cards, crocheted or just nattered, mostly the latter.
I still loved to look at all the wonderful scrapbooking blogs especially Prima and still bought lots of their papers, flowers and embellishments. I even bought the new Prima Idea Book 2012 but still didn't feel like creating a LO, I just kept looking at all the gorgeous creations made by the talented Prima DT.
Anyway last night I couldn't sleep, we'd been out to celebrate my brother's 40th birthday and instead of dessert I opted for a coffee, bad move !!! I tossed and turned, eventually I decided to put my earphones in and watch some Prima videos, I eventually fell asleep about 3 a.m.
It was worth the late night, as when I woke up I had the urge to scrapbook, I was particularly inspired by one of Jamie Dougherty video's.
Here's my first LO for many month's and I've loved doing it, so hopefully I've got my mojo back.

I've wanted to do something with these photo's for so long, they just make me happy and I smile every time I look at them. Paige took them on her phone and Olivia copied every funny face that Paige pulled.

I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in my craft room, ripping, tearing, inking, painting, distressing and layering, I've really missed all that messy crafting. I loved the look of Jamie's LO with the corrugated card so wanted to replicate that in my LO, using little bits tucked under the base paper and used as a photo mat.

I roughly painted my base paper, Botanical Collection "From the Heart" and used a dotty mask adding more paint.I cut out some labels and tags from the different paper ranges, layering them up and adding lots of Prima flowers, I cut the vine in half getting more for my money and used it both sides.I also tucked one of the new Junkyard Finding Clock Faces amongst the flowers and a little metal bird from my stash.

Thursday, 27 September 2012

My little brother is 40 years old today so I used this sketch to make his card, like I always say, I'm not good at masculine cards so the sketch was a great basis to get me started.

The Happy Birthday stamp is from the new set Fancy Sentiments, I used Tammy Hobbs technique of using the words separately without having to cut your stamps, you can see how to do it here. I also stamped the cotton tape with a postmark from the Vintage Postcard set.

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Hello, my lovely friends, I'm back today with this week's Tuesday's Tallies, I haven't been able to work on joining my Springtime Throw as my hands were still hurting but I will have another go in the next few days.I have started a new project though which I'm very excited about !!!! Over the last couple of weeks, I've been trawling the web for the perfect project using my new Rooster yarn, I wanted a large blanket but not granny squares, I've done a ripple blanket so wanted something a bit different.I just couldn't see anything that really grabbed me, until Sunday, I was blog hopping and Carole had put a link on her post for a Bobble Blanket. I instantly fell in love with gorgeous blanket and knew this was the one.

Isn't it gorgeous !!!!!! You can find the pattern here on Rachelle's blog called The Nearsighted Owl, I started it yesterday afternoon, the only thing I've done different to Rachelle's pattern is the first row, I started off with a row of double crochet, just so it didn't curl so much when I was doing the bobbles.

Here's all 18 colours that I'll be using, I just love Rooster's colour palette, I'm not sure yet, what order I'll use them in, they are all so lush.

My chain is 199 and measures 141cm so it's quite a large blanket. I'm loving the pattern but it does use a lot of yarn, each colour uses approximately 24g, I have 18 colours to work with and I'll order more yarn a bit at a time to spread the cost.Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to check out how everyone else has done this week over at Carole's blog.xxxxDebxxxx

Monday, 24 September 2012

Hi, I hope everyone has had a good weekend, I'm back today with a card to share with you that is featured in this months Paper & Pixels online magazine.Joanna from Inspired by Stamping was asked if they could feature her company in this month's magazine and as a result she asked her DT girls if we would also like to submit a card, using our favourite stamp set from the IBS range.

It didn't take me long to decide which set to use, I went for the Cross Stitch set which I helped design with Joanna. I just love the home-style feel to them.

I made a tag to start off with using the cross stitched label, bird, flower and sentiment, and attached to the main card. I also used some of the fabric washi tape, that Joanna sells in the store.

Thursday, 20 September 2012

Autumn is here in the U.K. there is a definite nip in the air, the days are bright and crisp and the nights are getting chilly. I do like to see the seasons changing and especially like Autumn, when we start seeing the rich, warm shades of red, orange and browns appearing.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Hello, I'm back with this week's Tuesday's Tallies, I've finished all the squares for my Springtime Throw and have a total of 780. I'm now in the process of joining them together but I've got to admit it's slow going, it's really hurting my hands for some reason, so can only do a little bit at a time.
Here's how it's looking.

Over the weekend I treated myself to some more new yarn, I love Rooster almerino dk so I decided to buy the rest of the colours in the range. Mmmm, now need to decide what my next project is going to be, using this gorgeous yarn.

I also bought some Rowan Cotton Handknit, such pretty colours.

The pink and lavender were at the bargain price of £2.00 a ball from the House of Fraser, they are also selling KnitPro crochet hooks and knitting needles at half price.I love a bargain !!!!

If you want to check out, how everyone else is progressing, hop over to Gingerbread Girl's blog. Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it..

Sunday, 16 September 2012

Hello, my friends, I hope you all having a good weekend, last week, Hazel's Crochet tagged me on Instagram in Show Me Your Stash, so I thought I'd share my yarn stash on my blog too.

My gorgeous Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran.

A mixture of Rowan Cashsoft and Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk.

Lastly my Rooster yarn.

Hazel's Crochet is having a give-away to celebrate her one year blogiversary, so why not pop over for a chance to win some Candy Skein yarn.

Yesterday, we spent the day in Ludlow, a pretty medieval market town.It is such a pretty place to visit, with the market, vintage shops, restaurants, foodie shops and of course the castle, there's something for everyone.
I particularly wanted to visit 55 Mill Street, a three story building full of vintage loveliness, I've been on the lookout for some vintage sewing bit's and pieces for a while now, and found some gorgeous threads and buttons.

I also found this pretty vintage teacup, I'm getting quite a collection now.

On the subject of teacups my beautiful, kind friend, Jan bought me this gorgeous Wedgewood cup and saucer, I don't know what I did to deserve it but I was really touched, so thank you.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

Hi there, I'm back today with this month's sneak peeks from Inspired by Stamping, this month there are three new Halloween sets, which are great fun, one Christmas sentiment and a general sentiment set in a beautiful fancy font, also Joanna has some gorgeous new Autumn colour flowers and ribbon.
I've got three projects to show you today using three of the new releases.

Halloween Tags

I had great fun with this set and are perfect for Halloween cards, invitations and for your party. I made some straw toppers and little food labels, anybody fancy some Fingertips, Lightly Salted or some Bat Droppings, mmmm tasty !!!!

I made a shaker card using the IBS Mason Jar set and filled it with some Moon Dust, I always sprinkle a bit of Moon Dust when I'm creating my magic spells, it works well when added to the Find a Prince spell.
There's a great tutorial here, that shows you how to make a shaker jar, one tip for you is if you're stamping onto acetate, Stazon is the best ink to use, as it gives a nice crisp image and is permanent.

It's not just sentiments you get in this stamp set, you also get mini snowflakes and pretty little fancy icons. I used the snowflakes on the greetings label and glittered them using SU Heat and Stick, you can just about see them on this close up but it was really hard to capture on a photo.

Using VersaMark ink, stamp your image onto the paper/card, I used the large doily from IBS Delicate Doilies II and cover the image with the white embossing powder, tip the excess back into the pot.

Heat the image with your heat embossing tool until the image becomes glossy be careful not to overheat as the image will flatten. It doesn't look much at the moment, the magic happens once you add the ink.

Sponge over the entire image with inks or PanPastels, I chose to use TH Distress ink, once you've got the depth of colour you want, wipe over with a paper towel, to take off any ink from the glossy white image, leaving you with a beautiful sharp image that seems to pop off the paper.

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Hello there, my lovely blog friends, I hope you've all had a good weekend, the weather was beautiful in the U.K., so we made the most of it, we met our friends Friday evening and managed to sit outside all evening, we don't often get chance to do that !!! I did a fair bit of crochet outside and also went to the river on Sunday afternoon.

Anyway, it's that time of the week again and I'm back to show you my Tuesday's Tallies. I'm on the last leg of my Springtime Throw, I normally finish 36 squares in one colour then go onto the next colour but this week I've mixed it up a bit and decided to do all the centres first, then the cream and finally finishing off with the edging.

I had a bit of a pink day last Wednesday and Thursday.

By Saturday night, I'd finished all the centres.

There are 216 tiny granny squares in my Green Gate tin.

On Sunday morning, while Hubby was at work and Paige was still asleep, I sat in my conservatory, making the most of the peace and quiet and started to add the cream to the squares.I've managed to do 139 squares with the cream yarn.

I'm hoping to have finished all the squares for this blanket by next week and will just have to crochet the squares together, make the border and sew in the ends, I think it will be definitely finished this month !!!!

If you hop over to Carole's blog, you can check out how everyone else is getting on or even join in and show what you've managed to crochet/knit this week.

Finally, I'd just like to say, today, I'm thinking of those people who lost their lives in the 911 attacks, their families and all those effected on that tragic day.

As well as going with the colours, yellow, blue, green and cream, I've gone with the sunflower theme using the white daisy and spraying it with a Mr. Huey Mist in yellow, then edging with TH Vintage Photo.